How has Suicide Squad not completely tarnished that character? I will never know.
As an out-of-shape Captain America passes us, I hear my dad mutter, “That’s no Steve Rogers.”
My dad was my plus one; he was the only one in my circle who truly appreciates this type of adventure.
(All of his tattoos reference the Marvel Universe, after all.)
Along our half-mile journey from the parking garage to the convention center, we passed numerous anime characters and a duo dressed as Scooby Doo and Shaggy, along with a handful of fat Thors.
If you are unfamiliar with MegaCon, it is the mecca for fans of literally any show, movie or game — they gather from far and wide to celebrate anything from Disney to Dungeon Masters.
And let’s not forget about celebrity meetups. This includes voice actors, well-known cosplayers, authors and the cast of television shows and cult classic movies.
This year, the cast of Boy Meets World — Ben Savage and Will Friedle (Cory and Eric Matthews), Rider Strong (Shawn Hunter), and Danielle Fishel (Topanga Lawrence) — took their seats to sign autographs and recite their classic lines.
“Feeny, Feeny, Feenay!”
MegaCon-goers weren’t as enthusiastic to meet Cory and the gang, as their lines seemed meek compared to those with a prop hover-board in hand waiting to breathe the same air as Biff Tannen and the crew from Back to the Future. It is only at events such as MegaCon that attendees can have a meet-and-greet with the entire cast, including Michael J. Fox (Marty McFly), for a whopping $476.
Put it on the Discover card.
The area for celebrity photo-ops and autographs was packed to the brim. Fans waited in line for hours before the talent even arrived so they knew their spot was secured.
Some of the best costumes of the day went to the Game of Thrones Night King, the group of teens dressed as Mario Kart characters complete with boxcars around their waists, and really anyone who commits to full body paint in 90-degree Florida heat.
When I asked for a photo of two gentlemen dressed as Snape and Dumbledore, onlookers began to mumble in unison, “Snape, Snape, Severus Snape.”
Speaking of body costumes, if you’ve attended a single MegaCon, you are familiar with the overwhelming presence of body odor.
Maybe it's from sweating in the heat on the way into the convention center, or the inability to dry clean a costume between events; either way, get used to breathing through your mouth for a few hours to avoid any involuntary gagging.
When you walk around with a press pass around your neck and camera in hand, you see those who are fully invested in trying to lock eyes with you to get your attention. Then, after you deem a costume worthy and ask for a photo, in more cases than not, their eyes will light up, they'll call upon their partners to assemble and begin doing their signature poses in the middle of the aisle.
Other times — as with the Mario Kart racers — they're on their way to a meetup upstairs and don't have the time for you.
Those damn kids.
If you venture out of the masses who are roaming the 400,000-square-foot convention center scanning the goods from over 1,000 vendors for that last comic book to complete their collection or new dice for an upcoming D&D tournament and head upstairs, you can peek into the rooms housing attendees playing video games, watching short films or in a session of Nerd Speed Dating (that’s actually the name, I swear).
Here you can see a rare sighting of Jon Snow sitting on the ground, completely out of character, with a Mountain Dew in one hand and a piece of pizza in the other.
Walk down the halls to witness attendees getting a much-needed break from their wig or mask, and reapplying makeup to various areas of their body and face. On my journey, I passed a teen dressed as Sailor Moon along with Sailors Mars and Jupiter in tow, panicking because Sailor Mercury was taking her sweet-ass time getting to the Anime Screening Room. Tensions were high throughout this four-day event.
The dedication when it comes to the costumes of attendees was both impressive and astounding. Do they do it for the passion or is it all vanity? Maybe it's a little bit of both.
The crowds of this year’s MegaCon seemed larger than normal; waves of people crash on your back trying to get to the next vendor, meetup, talk, whatever. According to one vendor, the aisle size had shrunk, attendance was up, and there were more celebrities than ever.
Another change this year was the lanyards. After getting your ticket for the day, or the entirety of the event, your lanyard is scanned before entry.
Is it to track your time? Probably.
My only gripe is that when you go to leave the convention center for the day when you’re finally fed up with rubbing shoulders, elbows, and asses with what feels like thousands, you can’t just leave. You have to wait to be scanned, and everyone has packed in like a line on Black Friday in reverse.
(Again, the smell.)
As we left the convention center we walked alongside exhausted but thrilled attendees, arms filled with their spoils from the day, signed autographs, body pillows with half-naked anime characters and whatever other memorabilia they stumbled upon.
MegaCon is not only a safe place for extreme fans, but a celebration of creativity, spirit, and community for those no matter how niche their interests are.
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This article appears in May 23-30, 2019.